A week after my last cycle of chemotherapy, it was decided that my mediport needed to come out. Since I will be traveling overseas for a month, I will not have an opportunity to have my mediport flushed. The port needs to be flushed at least every six weeks, to make sure no blood clot forms. My mediport removal was scheduled for August 20. The removal of the mediport was a lot shorter in duration than its insertion, however it was more painful. The reason it was more painful was due to the lidocaine shot the radiologist administered to numb my skin. It was 10 seconds of a burning sensation that made this experience quite unpleasant. If I would have used the cream that I was prescribed to numb my skin before the mediport was used for infusion, the pain would not be as much. This is something that I should have done, but I admit I did not listen to the advice from my mom 🙁

The whole process itself was quick and painless, the only time I felt pain was when the doctor “numbed” my skin. How ironic that a numbing medicine thats supposed to block pain, does the opposite in the first few seconds after being administered.

Funny story, when I was getting the mediport first put in I had no idea what this neat device looked like. I imagined that it would be sticking out of my skin. So while I was sedated and in a happy place, I asked the radiologist if I could choose a purple color. He looked at me in disbelief like I said something crazy. I was in my happy place, so his response did not really affect me. A couple of days after the wound healed, I was able to see what this device looked like. To my surprise, the whole thing was covered by my skin and all that could be seen was a bump. After it occurred to me what I said to the surgeon, I turned red with embarrassment.

All in all, after the mediport was removed I was curious to see what the device actually looked like. Turns out it was purple the whole time!! Well more like a lilac purple. 😉

Having my mediport removed the first week after my last cycle scarred me. Not only was my white blood cell count low but so were other important blood components. This could have made my healing time a lot longer and if I didn’t take proper care of the wound it could have become infected. Well to say the least, the first night the gauze was filled with my blood within hours. That whole night I couldn’t sleep because all I kept imagining was either it would not stop bleeding or a clot would form and would break off causing a pulmonary embolism and I would be dead in seconds! Neither of that happened 🙂 A few days after the removal, the incision finally healed.

My mediport removed.

close up of the mediport.

Second day post mediport removal.

Bandage clean 4 days post removal.

3 weeks after removal